Guarding Lissa
by WyvernRider64
Summary: Lon'qu's stuck guarding Lissa from an assassination attempt. A different take on what happened to the two.


"Rrr Lon'qu will you ever stop grumbling that you have to guard me?" Lissa asked in a whiny voice. It had been a long day for her, having to scrub dishes after lunch. I mean really, she was a princess; she shouldn't be doing hard work. She should be doing... Princessy things. And Lon'qu had been complaining practically the whole day!

"That depends will you ever not be a woman?" he asked in a snarky voice.

She was confused for a moment, "Wh- No... Of course not."

"Well there's your answer."

"You're so impossible!" she stormed off away from the camp and Lon'qu followed her, very reluctantly.

A little while later after Lissa had a chance to cool down, she asked Lon'qu, "Is guarding me really that bad? Do you really hate me that much?"

Lon'qu paled a bit, "No I don't... Hate you. And there are plenty of worse things I could be doing..."

"Well thanks a bunch!" Lissa started off again in a huff.

"Stop! It isn't safe this far from camp."

"I'm not completely helpless, I can use protect myself with magic you know!"

"Wait!" he called as she kept walking away.

She stopped and let him catch up to her.

"Look Lon'qu I know you don't really like being around girls, but you're not making it any easier on yourself. Couldn't you at least try being around me and working on getting better?" she asked pleadingly.

"Well I-" he glanced at something moving out of the corner of his eye. It was an archer with his bow taut, ready to fire!

"Get down!" he yelled, but she would never get down in time! Lissa only looked at him confusedly. Mentally bracing himself for contact with a... girl... Lon'qu leapt forward and pushed Lissa down to the ground as the arrow sped toward them.

Grunting with pain, he rolled off of her as he blushed madly. No! This was not the time to worry about women; this was the time to save a life.

"Lissa are you alright?" he asked quickly while watching the archer for his next move."

"Yeah I'm fine Lon'qu, but what happened?"

"There was an assassin who just tried to kill you. Keep down."

"Oh no! Lon'qu you're hurt!"

Lon'qu quickly glanced at the tear in his shirt and the blood lining the wound before dismissing it, "It's not important. It's only a scrape."

"Here let me heal-"

"No," he cut her off. "Save your energy for fighting. We don't know what we're up against."

He tensed as the archer aimed at the two of them, waiting for a better shot.

"Lissa do you think you could hit that archer over there with your magic?"

"I think so."

She quickly ruffled through her haversack and pulled her Arcfire tome out. Channeling her energy through the tome, she launched a ball of fire at the assassin hitting him directly, killing him.

"Nice work Lissa but this most likely isn't over. There's probably more of them."

Hearing something behind him, Lon'qu's instincts took over and he jumped out of the way and turned to look at his adversary, narrowly missing being beheaded by an axe.

"Lissa run!" Lon'qu shouted as he charged the assassin, dispatching him with a thrust through the chest before the assassin could respond.

Looking around he realized the archer had only been a decoy to distract them as the rest snuck up from behind. Those blasted assassins had them surrounded now! The primary concern is saving Lissa right now

"Gwa ha ha!" bellowed one of the enemies, the largest of all of them, draped in animal fur and wearing the skull of some animal on his head as a trophy wielding a large axe. "Yew two're dead! Like dead meat!"

"Er, er, boss. Don'cha mean ta say they're just dead meat?" asked another assassin. "Well 'cause"

"Shaddup ya fool! Yer gonna make me look bad in front of them."

"Sorry boss."

"Now you, swordy," he chuckled under his breath at his wit. "Surrender the princess here and I won't hurt yew. Probably." An ugly grin appeared on his face.

"Huh. As if you could hurt me. How about you surrender and let us through and we won't hurt you."

"Yer a funny one you are." He let out an uproarious laugh that was soon joined in by the rest of the assassins, about 10 of them mostly dressed similarly in animal skins as their boss, except for one swordsperson. A woman. Unfortunately.

"Can't we get this over with boss?" she asked, looking bored.

"Har har don't you worry Julia. We'll be done soon enough." Julia rolled her eyes at him, a scowl on her face. "Right then, get 'em!"

The 10 or so assassins recklessly charged at the two as Lon'qu looked at Lissa, "Follow me and once we get through you run straight to the camp."

There was no time for arguing as they were almost upon them, so Lissa unhappily ran after Lon'qu, coming to meet the boss.

The boss started laughing again, and leapt high in the air, swinging his axe at Lon'qu with all his strength.

It sliced through the air as Lon'qu barreled past him, slicing through the side of the boss with his sword as he ran past with Lissa following right after.

"Raghhh!" the boss roared as he was cut. "I'll kill you!"

"Go Lissa!" Lon'qu shouted as he turned around to face the mob.

"Don't be stupid Lon'qu you'll never survive that many!"

"GO!"

"No I won't!"

Lissa began to gather her magic, and launched a ball of fire over Lon'qu's head and into the mob of assassins. It exploded above their heads, and set some of the animal furs on fire. They shrieked and ran away, beating at their clothes.

"Ya cowards!" the boss shouted after them, and prepared to swing his axe at Lon'qu again.

Lon'qu braced himself for the attack, and dodged out of the way again, slashing through the boss's unprotected neck.

The rest of the assassins who hadn't fled stopped their charge, not really wanting to attack this man who just slew their boss so easily.

Lon'qu jumped forward at them, watching the would-be-assassins cower in fear.

"Get out of here."

They obliged, except for Julia, the swordswoman.

"I don't think I'll be as easy for you to kill as my father."

Father. That was her father. That's going to cause some problems. She won't run away like the rest now that she wants revenge.

He blanched visibly.

"Well come on then. Just come forward and kill me just like my father," she taunted.

"I... I don't want to fight you," he managed to say.

"Lon'qu, will you be okay?" Lissa asked quietly.

"Yes now get out of here!" he hissed back.

"No!"

"Well that's too bad,because I want to fight you. And finish my father's job and kill that little princess girlfriend of yours.

"She is NOT my girlfriend." Lon'qu spat.

"What's the matter, afraid the other boys around town will make fun of you for liking a girl?" she asked mockingly.

Lon'qu had had enough. Even if she was a woman, he would get over his problem and just fight her.

"I've had enough of that from you."

"Oh and I suppose you're going to stop me hm?"

The time for talking was done. This woman would pay.

Lon'qu slowly advanced on her, being much more cautious than normal.

"Not as cocky as before eh? Well maybe that's because you can only take-"

She parried a series of blows from him.

"You're quick. Maybe I could work on that."

She smirked as she launched her own attack.

Lon'qu could tell he was fighting horribly. His form was sloppy; his stance weak, grip loose. He had to shape up. Even though this woman was unnerving him, he couldn't let himself forget his practice. He'd worked so much training to be a good swordsman. Some woman wasn't going to come take that away from him!

"Lon'qu come on you can do it! Beat her!" shouted Lissa.

Lissa! He couldn't lose! If he did, it'd be her life he'd lose! No. He couldn't lose somebody else. Not while there was anything he could do about it.

He had been distracted for too long, he was only half paying attention to Julia who has been moving closer to him the whole time, and it was too late to defend himself with her sword in motion already. He managed to move enough to prevent her from severing his arm, but not by much. He screamed in agony as thick blood gushed out of his shoulder and he hunched over from the pain.

"Lon'qu! No!"

"Ah so Lon'qu is it? Not what I expected at all. That's a pretty weak defense you've got there."

Hot tears poured down his face from the pain as he struggled immensely to pick himself and raise his sword.

"You're in no position to fight any more you pathetic excuse for a swordsman."

She kicked him in the stomach harshly, knocking the breath out of him.

He lay there on the ground in complete agony, unable to move as Julia towered over him.

"I'll make sure to kill you nice and slow, just as you didn't kill my father."

She dragged her sword across his stomach cruelly, making a crude J shape as he pitifully squirmed on the ground.

"I'll finish you off after I kill that girlfriend of yours." She looked up at Lissa, only to be hit with lightning magic.

"Leave him alone and get out of here!"

Lissa had finally managed to gather her energy; being shaken from Lon'qu being treated so harshly kept her from doing anything until she gathered herself together.

Picking herself off the ground she backed away slowly. "Alright, alright, you got me. I'll back off. Come on men."

The rest of the would-be-assassins followed her.

Lissa ran to Lon'qu as fast as she could.

"Lon'qu, no!" she cried. "Please be alive please be alive."

She felt that his heart was still breathing at least; although that was no guarantee he'd live.

She picked up her staff and began to use her magic to heal his wounds, praying to the gods for him to be alright.

Soon, he awoke, and Lissa hugged him tight, much to Lon'qu's dislike.

"Lissa could you- urgh- get off of me?"

"Oh sorry! I haven't finished healing you yet!"

She got back to work right away.

"Lissa?"

"Yeah Lon'qu?"

"Thank you. For saving me."

"Of course silly. But you saved me too, so that makes us even!"

"Right." He closed his eyes. "Lissa I- I think I can be a little more comfortable around you now."

"Really? Yay!"

She jumped up only to fall to the ground with an arrow embedded deep in her leg sobbing from the pain.

"Lissa! No! Those bastards!"

He picked her up and went sprinting off to the camp without a moment to spare.

He quickly arrived at the camp, and Lissa was taken to the healers at camp.

When he was sure Lissa would be taken care of, he went to his own tent, lay down, and was filled with self-loathing. It was his fault she almost got killed today. He could have saved her from any of this happening.

He was too weak though. He had to get stronger, for Lissa's sake! But.

He couldn't.

He can't conquer his problem with women.

"I can't," he thought to himself.

"I can't."

"I can't."

A tear slowly dripped down his face.


End file.
